The PE lessons of today :(

J

jamestheteacher

New member
OK OK OK, I just feel I need to share this with people, and as this is a health and fitness forum...
Anyway, Im a regular history teacher in high school, and have always kept myself fit etc. Recently, I was asked to cover a week of gym lessons and MY GOD.....

A FIFTEEN YEAR OLD BOY CANT RUN 200 METERS WITHOUT STOPPING :(

What the hell have we done to acheive this?
Compared to when I was at school, when maybe there would have been one or two kids in the gym class who were a little unfit/overweight.

Now, our gym classes are about 80% full of kids who have the stomach of a middle-aged man... Nearly all of the boys aged from 12 to 16 who I taught were quite overweight, and seeing that they couldn't even do some of the most simple exercises we did fine even ten years ago was horrible :(:(

What have we done?
 
Deemphasized active lifestyles and emphasized instant gratification.

Couple this with a lack of proper parenting and poor nutritional/health education.

You're left with what you see.
 
Steve said:
Deemphasized active lifestyles and emphasized instant gratification.

Couple this with a lack of proper parenting and poor nutritional/health education.

You're left with what you see.
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I have MANY stories of a kid in my wife's preschool class. We call him ManCheesePig (if you've ever seen SouthPark, you'll know why this is funny). His mom gratifies ALL his bad behaviors. She rewards him for being a little piggy, for being horrible, etc. I swear that he reminds me of Harry Potter's cousin Dudley. He picks on all the students, then cries when they don't want to play with them. The point? He is twice the size of the other classmates. he is the only obese kid there (he's only 4). He can't run because he loses his breath and his mom will still carry him. it's SO sad.
 
I believe it. There's always been really stupid parents in the world. However, it's only recently (in the grand scheme) where stupid parents could control their children with food (due to availability and affordability).

It's this bucket of psychological and educational issues that make for very fat kids.

On top of this, kids simply value different things today than years ago. Technology has morphed the value systems and we (as humans) act based on our values. And parents use this to their advantage to preoccupy their children too.

It's a complex issue, sure. I don't mean to simplify it. But it's sad nonetheless.
 
familyweese said:
Holy shit. My youngest is 2 and he doesn't get carried any where. All of my children are in a very healthy weight range and always have been. I am one of the only mothers that I personally know that gives there children fruit for an after school snack. If you were to look at me and then look at my fridge you would be so confused. I couldn't image watching my child get ridiculed about there weight. It just kills me when I see parents at the grocery with there overweight children and a baset full of candy and shit food. I don't understand what goes on in these peoples minds. How dare you ignore the obvious and do that to your children. Sorry if I offended any of you but thats how I feel about it.
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I 137% agree with you!
 
familyweese said:
Holy shit. My youngest is 2 and he doesn't get carried any where. All of my children are in a very healthy weight range and always have been. I am one of the only mothers that I personally know that gives there children fruit for an after school snack. If you were to look at me and then look at my fridge you would be so confused. I couldn't image watching my child get ridiculed about there weight. It just kills me when I see parents at the grocery with there overweight children and a baset full of candy and shit food. I don't understand what goes on in these peoples minds. How dare you ignore the obvious and do that to your children. Sorry if I offended any of you but thats how I feel about it.
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I agree also!

It just confuses me how so many young children can be so overweight. I know it has a lot to do with what their parents give them to eat, but I know that when I was young (elementary school), I would come home and tell my parents that I wanted to be involved with this activity or play that sport, without them even suggesting it first.

My niece and nephew are the same way. My niece took an interest in dance and cheerleading and my nephew plays basketball, baseball, and is learning to play ice hockey. They are only 5 and 7 and my sister isn't pushing them to do any of it. They would also rather go outside to play, ride their bikes, and tackle me to the ground while playing football anyday over laying around inside.

Kids are supposed to want to do this type of stuff, they're kids! Could the parents being telling them no they can't play this sport when they're young and want to, which discourages them? Who knows...
 
It definitely is sad that there are so many overweight children nowadays!!! I ran a home day care for 15 years, and was required to feed the kids decent food. Breakfast had to contain a bread, milk, and a fruit or veggie. Snacks had to contain 2 of dairy, bread, protein, and fruit or veggie. Lunch was a protein, bread, dairy, and 2 fruits and/or veggies. I guess I just got used to feeding my kids that way, and to this day (even thought I no longer do daycare) I try to encourage my kids to have at least 4-5 fruits/veggies per day. I know that isn't even half of what is recommended, but once they become teenagers, you lose a little control over what they eat.

I was also required to take them outside twice a day and was limited to the amount of t.v. that they watched. I don't want to toot my own horn, but I ran a darn good day care!!! A lot of parents go for price when deciding what day care to put their kids in. I understand price does have to be a factor, but I'm a firm believer in "you get what you pay for."

I also saw how guilty parents can be when they work all day and only see their kiddos for a few hours each night. I liked to do a lot of baking with the kids, and usually what we made the kids ate as part of their snack. Then I would put some extra in baggies for them to have take home and have after dinner. I had a couple of kids once that would "follow the rules" of my house, but as soon as Dad knocked on the door, they turned into monsters. It was like someone flipped a switch. They would start running around screaming and eating their extra snacks--their mom and dad were so guilty about having to work that they let the kids do whatever they wanted!! It was really sad!!

I also watched some kids at their house once. Mom would get home from work about 6 p.m. The kids would be so hungry, and mom needed some down time before starting dinner. The kids would literally open up the cupboard, pull out a bag of oreos, and eat them while they were waiting for Mom to make dinner.

Also, kids aren't as active as they were "back in the day". That's what is so good about the YMCA--though it is way expensive. There is something for everybody in the family. The kids have the interactive zones where they are active while Mom & Dad work out. Most Y's have pools, where the kiddos can swim year round.

Fitness needs to be fun for kids!!! That's the bottom line!! I used to take my son-then 10 to Gold's Gym with me. They had a tread wall--kind of like a tread mill but it was a rock climbing wall. If he had the day off school, I would ask him if he wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese's or to Gold's. Guess what?? He had a hard time deciding, because he had so much fun at Gold's. He now plays raquetball and is in a boxing program. To him that is fun--it's not working out.
 
You sound like you are at least active with your kiddos!!! Good for you!!!

When I took my son to Gold's, the age limit was 10. He was only 9 at the time, so we lied about his age whenever we went there. (Shhhh.)

Right after he turned 10, we moved to Virginia. Their age limit was 16. I think that is part of the problem--gyms don't want the liability of having children in their gyms. Plus, especially at peak hours, it is crowded enough with adults. I can't imagine if people had their kids with them. It would be insane. What is a parent to do???

GYMJUNKIE
 
Gator said:
I have MANY stories of a kid in my wife's preschool class. We call him ManCheesePig (if you've ever seen SouthPark, you'll know why this is funny).
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I can't say I'm too impressed with you speaking of a child like that. That ranks about a 0 on the maturity scale.
 
LowFatMilk said:
I can't say I'm too impressed with you speaking of a child like that. That ranks about a 0 on the maturity scale.
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Let me break it down for you.

Man - well, he is a boy.
Cheese - he is named after a member of the cheese family. No, I'm not joking.
Pig - His nose bends upwards like a pig...and quite honestly, he acts the part. He is a bully to everyone in the class.

Next time, I will make sure to check with the FCC, IRS, NRA and 1-800-ABCDEFG to make sure no ones feelings are being hurt. The last thing I want is to further degrade our society with inappropriate comments deemed so by our awesome national government who mandates what should or shouldn't be said or uttered. :confused:
 
gymjunkie said:
When I took my son to Gold's, the age limit was 10. He was only 9 at the time, so we lied about his age whenever we went there. (Shhhh.)

Right after he turned 10, we moved to Virginia. Their age limit was 16. I think that is part of the problem--gyms don't want the liability of having children in their gyms. Plus, especially at peak hours, it is crowded enough with adults. I can't imagine if people had their kids with them. It would be insane. What is a parent to do???

GYMJUNKIE
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My eldest has a full gym membership, is heavily into his matial art and is a football referee at the age of 13. the youngest of my 2 Autistic kids does matial arts twice a week and plays football in a normal team. none of my kids have a problem with being over weight, I have trouble getting them to gain weight.

the primary school my two youngest attend has a strict policy of healthy food at school including the canteen. I would say that very few of the students there are obese. there are about 4 i can think of in a school of 400 students.

I wonder if the difference is the environment, country Vs City ?
 
In a lot of cases location has something to do with activity level. I live in the middle of NOWHERE. There's nothing for kids to do here. No classes and the only organized sports other than in high school are in the summer. It's 40 miles to the nearest larger city, and we're also in a fairly economically depressed area....so it's hard if not impossible for many parents to get their kids TO classes and things.

That being said, the small town life is ideal for things like hiking, riding bikes and playing outside. That's where the parent's responsibility comes in. Today's parents (with some exceptions obviously) are more willing to let the TV or video games babysit their children because it's easier than having to keep an eye on them while they're outside playing.
 
Gator said:
and quite honestly, he acts the part. He is a bully to everyone in the class.
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Sure children can be a pain, and are needlessly mean. I'm am sure that he's probably not the favorite kid in the class. But he's just a young boy.

And I'm sure you would hate to know that people were talking about your children like that whether it was true or not. Anyone would.
 
One of the things I want to hear my kids say to me before I die is, "Can I have some broccoli." I eat broccoli almost every day. When we go out to eat, I order "a trough" of broccoli. My kids think it is funny, and 2 of the 3 wouldn't touch it if their lives depended on it. I think my daughter's adversion to broccoli is just to be a rebel. She likes, green peppers, onions, asparagus, squash, green beans, and just about any other veggie. Is there a real difference between broccoli and asparagus or green beans??
 
Gator said:
Let me break it down for you.

Man - well, he is a boy.
Cheese - he is named after a member of the cheese family. No, I'm not joking.
Pig - His nose bends upwards like a pig...and quite honestly, he acts the part. He is a bully to everyone in the class.

Next time, I will make sure to check with the FCC, IRS, NRA and 1-800-ABCDEFG to make sure no ones feelings are being hurt. The last thing I want is to further degrade our society with inappropriate comments deemed so by our awesome national government who mandates what should or shouldn't be said or uttered. :confused:
Click to expand...

familyweese said:
None of us on here are completly mature all the time including yourself so maybe it would be best to stick to the topic on hand instead of making public your feelings on maturity and attacking others.
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Oh, so it's cool for "adults" to make fun of little kids now? Rad, because getting picked on and treated like shit couldn't POSSIBLY why kids become bullies in the first place. So, basically, since you two feel this way, surely you don't mind me talking about your stupid, ugly children and why you fail at parenting. Unless, of course, your instinct to protect your children kicks in, and this offends you. Unfortunately, that means you're not really as self-righteous as you want us to believe.
 
The parents who do this to their children don't know they are.

There are people here probably criticizing them who do the same or similiar things to their children and are in denial about it.
 
Survivalism said:
Oh, so it's cool for "adults" to make fun of little kids now? Rad, because getting picked on and treated like shit couldn't POSSIBLY why kids become bullies in the first place. So, basically, since you two feel this way, surely you don't mind me talking about your stupid, ugly children and why you fail at parenting. Unless, of course, your instinct to protect your children kicks in, and this offends you. Unfortunately, that means you're not really as self-righteous as you want us to believe.
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Jeez, why do people always have to hop on the soap boxes first chance they get??

I am sure none of the adults ever called the kid any names to his face, so what's the problem? We're not talking about adults who ridicules and humiliates a child in front of everybody else, it's just a name that is used to (probably very accurately) describe said child.

As for the parents, if they wouldn't suck at parenting in the first place, the kid wouldn't have the problems he has, so they should damn well hear it. Maybe that would work as a wake up call, who knows?
 
Survivalism said:
Oh, so it's cool for "adults" to make fun of little kids now? Rad, because getting picked on and treated like shit couldn't POSSIBLY why kids become bullies in the first place. So, basically, since you two feel this way, surely you don't mind me talking about your stupid, ugly children and why you fail at parenting. Unless, of course, your instinct to protect your children kicks in, and this offends you. Unfortunately, that means you're not really as self-righteous as you want us to believe.
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Hey there, Pot. My name is kettle.

You fucking moron, you just got on your self righteous pedestal like the hypocrite you are in giving your little sermon. I guess it's "cool" for "rad" people like you to join any cause and fight that exists out there...even on a fucking message board. Do you even realize that a message board is NOT reality? Do us all a favor. Next time you want to play the part of Kyle's mom and protest just for the sake of protesting, think of how much of a little bitch you are. Hey, Peta's just called, they want their whining crybaby mantra back.
 
:chillpill: There is a difference between making a comment and attacking each other

I'm sure nobody here has ugly children.
 
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